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PeakMetrics / Fact Checks

Disasters & emergencies fact checks

Explore claims publishers have checked about disasters & emergencies. Read their original ratings and follow the evidence.

3,262 published reviews in this topic

Fact CrescendoDisasters & emergencies

Claim: This flood damage is not related with China I சீனாவின் மழை வெள்ளம் என்று பகிரப்படும் ஜப்பான் சுனாமி வீடியோ!

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The claim concerns a video presented as damage from flooding in China. Fact Crescendo’s review says the footage showed floodwater sweeping away boats and small ships, and describes a Facebook post by Sheikabdul Kadher on August 3, 2021, that linked the scene to China’s rain and the Three Gorges Dam. The review investigated whether that video actually showed the 2021 China floods. The investigation reports that reviewers converted frames from the video into images and used reverse-image searches. They found the same footage circulated on YouTube, Twitter and Instagram with descriptions identifying it as the 2011 Japan tsunami. Based on those search results, the review concludes that the footage was not recorded during the 2021 floods in China, and that presenting it as Chinese flood footage was misleading. The excerpt does not name the individual videos found in those searches or provide a direct link to the original recording. Its stated basis is the matching footage found through reverse-image searching and its circulation under Japan-tsunami descriptions; the evidence presented here therefore supports the review’s identification without supplying a fuller provenance chain.

dpaDisasters & emergencies

In Duitsland werden bij de overstromingen 600 kinderlijken gevonden. Vermoedelijk afkomstig uit massagraven en tunnels.

Publisher’s rating: Er zijn niet 600 dode kinderen aangetroffen na de overstromingen in de Duitse regio. De Duitse politie heeft dit nepnieuws dan ook ontkracht. Er zijn wel verhalen van enkele slachtoffers van de overstromingen die kinderen waren. Voor de bewering dat slachtoffers uit massagraven of geheime tunnels aanspoelden is daarentegen geen enkel bewijs.

The claim concerns the July 2021 floods in Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler, Germany: posts alleged that 600 children’s bodies had been washed out, possibly from mass graves or underground tunnels. The review reports that Koblenz police official Florian Stadtfeld called the 600-child rumor “Fake News” at a flood press conference. It also gives the Rhineland-Palatinate death toll as 134 on July 29, with 80 victims identified at that point; police did not release the victims’ ages. Those figures do not support the claim of 600 child deaths. The review traced the rumor to a short excerpt from an n-tv report. In that clip, a reporter says residents had described finding children’s bodies in their homes, washed in from elsewhere. The review says this was a genuine report about accounts of some deceased children, not evidence of hundreds. Deutsche Welle asked n-tv about the report; n-tv said one person interviewed was a resident of Altenburg describing her experience during the flood night. The review notes that neither the clip nor the German news report mentions 600 children. The review says it found no other report substantiating the number 600 and no evidence that bodies came from mass graves or secret tunnels. It also explains that the social-media allegation linked the story to a government bunker in the Ahr valley, but the review found no evidence connecting that site to the recovery of children’s bodies.

dpaDisasters & emergencies

Nach den tödlichen Überschwemmungen in Deutschland hat es außer leeren Versprechen und Lachen der Politiker nichts gegeben.

Publisher’s rating: Die Behauptung, dass die Opfer der Hochwasserkatastrophe von Politikern keine Hilfe bekommen haben, ist falsch. Nach den Überschwemmungen ist eine große Hilfsaktion angelaufen.

The post contrasted Belgium’s state mourning and nationwide minute of silence with Germany, claiming: “Außer leeren Versprechen und Lachen der Politiker, Nix, Null Komma Nix.” The review identifies the post as a Facebook post from Luxembourg and addresses the claim that German flood victims received no help from politicians. It reports that the floods following heavy rain on the night of 14–15 July 2021 killed 186 people in Rhineland-Palatinate and North Rhine-Westphalia. The review describes immediate rescue and recovery operations beginning on 15 July, involving police, firefighters, aid organizations and private individuals. It also reports that the military had been deployed from 14 July: Bundeswehr helicopters helped rescue people trapped on rooftops, while heavy vehicles were used to clear roads. The Bundeswehr and the Technical Relief Agency (THW) were also deployed to help restore damaged public infrastructure. The account documents financial measures as well as emergency operations. Rhineland-Palatinate and North Rhine-Westphalia each provided €200 million for immediate assistance, matched by the federal government, making €400 million available in each state. The review says eligible households could receive up to €3,500, and that more than €15 million had already been paid in Rhineland-Palatinate by 2 August. It also records limits and criticism: some flood victims considered the assistance insufficient, residents accused officials of administrative failure and broken promises, and the review notes there was not yet an overall account of payments in North Rhine-Westphalia. Those qualifications do not support the post’s absolute claim that there was no help.

Fact CrescendoDisasters & emergencies

Claim: Polimer channel posted some 2018 dated clippings of Alaska Earthquake

Publisher’s rating: PARTLY FALSE

Fact Crescendo examined a Polimer TV video posted on July 29, 2021, after an earthquake struck Alaska on July 28. Its caption referred to an earthquake video that had terrified Alaska, but did not say when the footage was recorded. The review found that the compilation combined three different clips, so the claim that the video included old footage is accurate only in part. To investigate the indoor footage, the review converted frames from the video into images and searched for them using reverse image search. It found that the clip showing a woman carrying a child out of a house had appeared online in 2018. The review identifies an earlier post by Alaska resident James Easton dated December 1, 2018, and says he confirmed in replies that the footage was his and that Alaska television outlets could use it. The other two clips showed vehicles lined up on a road and footage taken from a ship. The review says The Sun had reported these scenes as footage from the July 28, 2021 Alaska earthquake. Thus, although the compilation included a 2018 clip, the review did not find that all of its footage was old: it identified the other two scenes as showing the 2021 event. The misleading element was presenting the mixed-date compilation as an Alaska earthquake video without specifying that one scene was from 2018.

FACTLYDisasters & emergencies

Video of fire breaking out in a residential tower in Bodrum, Turkey

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The claim concerns a specific video said to show a residential tower on fire in Bodrum, Turkey. FACTLY reports that the fire footage instead shows a building in the Al Mamoura area of Abu Dhabi. It dates that incident to the night of 17 June 2021 and says no casualties were reported. The review distinguishes this building fire from wildfires that were occurring in Turkey, which led to evacuations in Bodrum; it says the video is not related to those fires. To identify the footage, the review describes reverse-image searches of screenshots from the video. It says this search found the same video, with two seconds clipped, on YouTube. That video was uploaded on 18 June 2021, and its title and description identify the fire as occurring in Al Mamoura, Abu Dhabi, on 17 June. The review also reports finding articles about the same Abu Dhabi incident with similar visuals. Together, the identified video and matching incident reporting support the conclusion that the footage was misattributed to Turkey.

FACTLYDisasters & emergencies

Video of water being released from Koyna Dam

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The claim concerns a social-media video presented as showing water being released from Koyna Dam in Maharashtra. FACTLY reports that the footage instead shows Xiaolangdi Reservoir on the Yellow River in China, so it does not document the Koyna Dam release described in the claim. The review distinguishes the video’s location from a real, separately reported release at Koyna: “The video is of Xiaolangdi Reservoir on the Yellow River in central China’s Henan Province and not Koyna Dam.” To investigate the video’s origin, the review says it searched screenshots using reverse image search and found a longer YouTube video with the same visuals. It reports that the matching segment is the first 14 seconds of a video uploaded in 2018, whose title referred to water discharged from the Yellow River and whose description identified Xiaolangdi Dam. The review also found a video with similar visuals posted by People’s Daily and compared its screenshots with the circulating footage, noting similarities in the background. The review places the genuine Koyna release in context: after heavy rains, Maharashtra opened the dam’s gates on 23 July 2021 and discharged about 10,000 cusecs. But it says the Koyna footage did not match the post’s video. Thus, the evidence supports a misleading-location conclusion: the claim attaches a real dam and release context to footage identified as coming from a reservoir in China.

Vishvas NewsDisasters & emergencies

সোশ্যাল মিডিয়ায় জলমগ্ন রাস্তার ছবি শেয়ার করে বেশ কয়েক জন ইউজার এমন দাবি করছেন যে, এটা পশ্চিমবঙ্গের কোনও এক জায়গার ছবি। সোশ্যাল মিডিয়াতেই আবার আরও বেশ কয়েক জন ইউজার এই বলেই শেয়ার করেছেন যে, এটা বর্ষায় জলমগ্ন হয়ে যাওয়া পশ্চিমবঙ্গের কোনও এক রাস্তার ছবি।

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

FACTLYDisasters & emergencies

Video of Crocodile attack in Debi river, Cuttack, Odisha

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The post identified in the review claimed that a video showing a crocodile carrying a deceased person depicted an attack in the Debi River in Cuttack, Odisha. The review concluded that the footage was instead from Tampico, Mexico, and that the attack shown there occurred on 21 June 2021 at Laguna del Carpintero. It reported that the woman was allegedly washing clothes by the lagoon when attacked.

FACTLYDisasters & emergencies

Video of tourists in Himachal Pradesh struck in a traffic jam while returning

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The claim concerns a video of vehicles in a traffic jam, said to show tourists returning from Himachal Pradesh after the Kinnaur landslide. The review identifies the footage as a traffic jam in Pakistan’s Kaghan valley, not Himachal Pradesh. It says thousands of tourists had visited the valley for Eid-ul-Adha and vehicles became stuck on the Mansehra-Naran-Jalkhad road, which leads to Kaghan valley. To check the video’s provenance, the review says it used reverse image searches of screenshots from the footage. It found similar visuals in a YouTube video published by Pakistan-based ARY news, which reported them as traffic jams in Kaghan valley. The review also points to similar videos published by other Pakistan news websites. This evidence links the footage to the Pakistan traffic jam rather than to the claimed Himachal Pradesh setting. The review adds that Himachal Pradesh Police addressed the circulating footage in a Facebook post, clarifying that it was not related to Himachal Pradesh. Together, the identified Pakistan location and the police clarification contradict the claim that the video shows tourists stuck while returning from Himachal Pradesh.

dpaDisasters & emergencies

Es ist zu wenig Geld für die Flutopfer da, weil der Fluthilfefonds von der Bundesregierung 2014 für Flüchtlinge ausgegeben wurde.

Publisher’s rating: Falsch. Der Fluthilfefonds war nie auf Dauer angelegt, nicht ausgegebenes Geld ging zurück in den Bundeshaushalt.

The claim linked the amount of immediate help available after the 2021 floods in Rhineland-Palatinate and North Rhine-Westphalia to an alleged decision by the federal government in 2014 to divert money from an earlier flood-relief fund to refugees. The review traces that fund to the severe 2013 floods: the federal and state governments established an eight-billion-euro special fund to pay for rebuilding affected areas. The key question is what happened to money that was not drawn from the fund. The review says applications could be approved only until June 30, 2016, and that the then federal government had no plan to keep money in the special fund for possible future events. It also cites the government’s response to a parliamentary inquiry, which said the 2016 federal budget anticipated 1.5 billion euros in revenue from the fund. The review concludes that the unspent money returned to the federal government, rather than being given to refugees. There was a proposal in 2014: then-Bavarian finance minister Markus Söder suggested using unclaimed fund money to help the states accommodate refugees. But the review reports that the state premiers rejected the proposal the following day, so it was not implemented. It therefore distinguishes a reported proposal from an actual transfer and finds no basis for the claim that the fund was spent on refugees or that such spending caused the level of aid after the 2021 floods.